for one natural day or hour properly so called as 't is commonly thought In Luke 17.22 the Lord â—esus himself speaking of the day of his second â—oming Ye shall saith he desire to see one of the days of the Son of man Which Beza rightly interprets of one of the days of his second coming for in vain should they desire to see one of the days that were past who did certainly expect them to come which they thought also to be at hand but they were deceived in that and should not see them that is so soon as they expected them In Acts 3.20 21 24. Peter speaks of times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord the times of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets c. He doth not point at one day in Christs second coming but many certainly so long as all things shall continue after they be restored so long the day of Judgement shall last but all things shall be restored at the day of Judgement and continue in their being after they are restored longer then a day of twelve or twenty four hours long Surely for a man to say that Christ shall come from Heaven at the day of Judgement when all things in the world shall be destroyed and have an end Acts 3.21 Rom 8 21. is to fight against the Scripture which saith all things at his coming shall be restored and therefore not dissolved at that time Or to say all things shall be restored at Christ second coming and be dissolved again by and by is like the fancie of those Heathens who said God made other worlds before this but he did undo them as soon as he had made them because they were not to his minde and thus say they he spent his time until he made this world that now is which pleased him very well Such a fancy they must needs have of God who think all things shall be restored at Christs second coming and dissolved again by and by Without doubt as when God made the world at first he did not make it to destroy it presently but to continue for som length of time for man to live in it to his glory and his praise so when God shall restore the world at the great day of Judgement he will not presently dissolve it but have it to continue some length of time that Christ and the Saints may reign in it to his glory Again John in the Revelation speaking of the seventh Trumpet which is the last Trumpet and the Trumpet I mean of the judicial Trumpets of consummation and so the Trumpet of Christs second coming he attributes many days to it In the days of the seventh Trumpet the mystery of God shall be finished as he spake by his Servants the â—rophets Rev. 10.7 Isaiah calls the second coming of Christ the year of recompences Isaiah 34. ver 8. It is such a day that in the same breath it swells into a year For it is the day saith he of the Lords vengeance and the year of recompences for the controversie of Zion Yea this day in Isaiah 59.21 swells at the least into three generations and least that should be two little into a for ever For saith he my words shall not depart out of thy mouth nor our of the mouth of thy feed or seeds seed from henceforth even for ever And it is apparent this is spoken of Christs second coming both from the text * By which we may judge how to apply all those glorious texis which seem yet to be unfulfilled and context and Paul Rom. 11.26 so applyes the same The same Prophet tells us yet of a longer time Isaiah 65.17 for saith he the days of my people ver 22. shall be as the days of a tree and mine Elect shall lâ—ng enjoy the works of their hands Pliny tells us that the life of an Oak is nine hundred years more or less which comes very near Johns thousand years The words in the Hebrew are the wood of life but the Septuagint renders it the tree of life with which also agrees the Chaldee paraphraft In which words saith Justin Martyr we may understand the thousand years to be secretly pointed at It was the conceit of the same Justine Martyr and not altogether to be slighted that the life of the tree of life or of man in the state of Paradice was to consist of a thousand years that is to say that so long man had he not sined should have lived in this world and afterwards have been translated into a more happy both place and condition But Adam having sinned by eating the forbidden fruit therefore neither himself nor any of his posterity though some of them very long lived should attain to that number of years but should die before they had any of them lived out so great a day But when all things shall be restored that long liv'd day shall be restored to the sons of the first resurrection and they shall live one thousand years So the Prophet Zachariah speaking of the day of Christs second coming chap 14.9 saith the Lord shall be King over all the Earth and in that day there shall be one Lord and his name one And adds ver 16. they shall go up from year to year to worship the King the Lord of Hosts and to keep the feast of Tabernacles which is an allusion to those old Jewish rites and betokens onely their serving God of which see Rev. 7.14 15. Where those Palm bearing triumphers are said to serve God day and night in his Temple Lastly Christ tells us of a certain world to come in which sins may be forgiven Matth. 12.32 not to the sons of the resurrection who are without all sin but to those who are of the Nations that are saved and walk in the light of the New Jerusalem Rev. 21.24 who yet sinning and repenting of their sins obtain remission in Christs blood And now good Reader hark a little to the peculiar priviledges of that day and time yet for brevitys sake take them almost in so many words ¶ I In the time of this thousand years there will be an end for ever of the Beast and false Prophet O! happy riddance to the world for what good did they ever do nay what evil did they not Farewell thou Whore of Babylon Rev. 18.3 who didst inebriate the Nations and their Kings with the wine of the wrath of thy fornications Thy judgements are come in a day Rev. 18.8 death and mourning and famine for strong is the Lord God that Judgeth thee Rejoyce Rev. 18.20 over her thou heaven Church and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you at her hand That wicked horn Dan. 7.21 is broken off who warred against and wore out the Saints the multitude of thy offences now at last hath broken the multitude of thy forces and thou canst not call back the day that is past
and shall not lose them Ezek. 34.26 27 28. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing and I will cause the showre to come down in his season there shall be showres of blessing And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit and the Earth shall yield her increase and they shall be safe in their Land and shall know that I am the Lord when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them And they shall no more be a prey to the Heathen neither shall the Beasts beastly men of the Land devoure them but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them any more afraid Ezek 36.28 29 30. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses and I will call for the corne and will increase it and lay no famine upon you And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the Heathen And many other places 11. Though long life will keep a man from Heaven whilest it lasteth yet it is counted for a blessing in the word of God to have it In Exod. 20.12 It is promised as the reward of obedience to the fifth Commandement And Paul tells us Ephes 6.2 3. That this is the first Commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the Earth Psal 91.16 With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation Prov. 16.31 Ahoary head is a crown of Glory being found in the way of Righteousness Is it a blessing a reward and a crown now and would it be a judgement then sure I am had God thought so he would never have made a promise of it to his people as he doth Isai 65.20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled up his days and ver 22. At the days of a tree are the days of my people and mine Elect shall long iâ—joy the work of their hands 12. Lastly though long life be one of the priviledges of this Kingdom yet there shal be death I conceive at last that is to the Nations that are saved and walk in the Light of the New Jerusalem but not to the camp of the glorified Saints or which is all one the New Jerusalem And though this is controverted by som that this is so apears ni fallor plainly thus 1. That those whose souls descend and come down with Christ and are reunited to their bodies and are literally and properly the raised Saints who are raised in the morning of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great day of Judgement or beginning of the thousand years and are that company who are called the New Jerusalem and camp of the Saints that these shall die no more may be taken I think on all hands pro confesso as a thing granted which is also proved Rev. 21.4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and THERE shall be no more DEATH neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain all which are applicable to them but not to the other 2. The other therfore who came not down with Christ but are upon the Earth and are called the Nations that are saved and walk in the light or by the direction of the former they as also all who shall afterwards be converted during this Kingdom have sin and pain and tears and Kings and Ordinances and eat and drink and are mortal and die c. Now that they die for this I think will be most questioned by som is plainly hinted by the Prophet Isaiah chap. 65.20 The child shall die an hundred years old it is beyond doubt that the is speaking of this Kingdom and though he tells us of a long life where he that lives the least or but a little time comparatively shall live an hundred years yet he owns death in this Kingdom for all that the child shall die a hundred years old Also the Apostle Paul tells us 1 Cor. 15.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death Now Gog and Magog shall be destroyed at or after the end of the thousand years therefore death which is the last enemy to be destroyed cannot be destroyed a thousand years before but is destroyed after the destruction of Gog and Magog when the thousand years are ended or finished Object 17 This Opinion makes the living Saints mortal but the Apostle saith 1 Thes 4.17 That they shall be caught up and be ever with the Lord now if the living Saints I mean those that are found alive at Christs coming be caught up and changed which is somthing equivalent to death and states them in immortality and be ever with the Lord how can they and their posterity be in a state of mortality for a thousand years how can these things hold together Answ This Objection I confesse hath seemed hard to some and is urged as unanswerable by others and Reverend Dr. Twisse in Mr. Mede's Diatribae part 4 pag. 472. having propounded and answered nine Objections against this opinion propounds this in the tenth and last place and leaves it unanswered as not knowing what could be said to it whereupon Mr. Mede takes it for Tythe and answers it whose Answers you may please to see and peruse they are eâ—dens l. p. 473. I conceive submitting my opinion still to better judgments in this mystery that the plain and true answer in this those of Gods people that are alive at Christs coming those shall be caught up together with the raised Saints which shall be don in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the sound of the Trumpet of the initiation of that great day for this is not the last trump or the trumpet of consummation and be changed and so put into a state of immortality and neither marry nor have posterity nor die but be as the Angels and therefore they are not meant by the Nations that are saved that walk in the light thereof But you will say who are they then I answer that when Christ shall thus gloriously manifest himself in person to the world for his people and against his enemies and shall have destroyed the most part of those that oppose him by far at that great Armageddon battel I say then there shall and will be a mighty conversion of very many of those who see these things being such wonders as men never saw before Yea and all or most of those few that escape destruction at that great Armageddon battel being converted shall go and preach the strange things of that day and time to the Nations who are afar off and have not seen and heard them and of these when they shall have heard those things shall very many be converted and these are the
visibly represented to him Object To do a thing with Christ doth not imply his personal presence with us but in Scripture phrase we may be said to do a thing with Christ which we either do for Christ or by his assistance or do a thing that Christ did before us though himself be not personally present with us As Rom. 8.18 If we suffer doth not imply that no man can suffer but be must have Christ personally present with him on the Earth to suffer with him No! that cannot be the meaning but we suffer with Christ though we be on the Earth and he in Heaven because we suffer for him and by his assistance and suffer the same things he suffered before us So this phrase of reigning with Christ doth not imply Christs personal abode with us but only the doing of a thing or enjoyment of a thing for Christs sake or the doing of that which he now doth though in another place or the doing of that which he did before us Answ For a man to do a thing with Christ before death doth not imply Christs personal presence with him in the doing of it but for a man to do a thing with Christ after death doth imply Christ is personally present with him at the doing of it As that very text quoted in the objection doth sufficiently declare viz. Ro. 8.17 If we suffer with him we shall be glorified with him the former clause if we suffer with him is spoken of a man before death and doth not imply that a man is personally present with him when he suffers But the latter clause we shall be glorified with him is meant of a man after death and doth imply that a man is personally present with him when he is glorified together with him So likewise for a man to live with Christ before death doth not imply the personal presence of Christ the reason is because before death we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 But for the Saints to live and reign with Christ after death yea after the resurrection of their bodies this doth imply Christ is personal present with them where they so reign and the reason is because after death they are ever with the Lord and never absent from him As the Scripture testifier John 14.3 That where I am there ye may be also John 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou bast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me Phil. 1.23 I desire to depart and to be with Christ 1 Thes 4.17 And so shall we ever be with the Lord. 2 Tim. 2.12 We shall also reign with him Therefore seeing the Saints are said to live and reign with Christ and are not Saints Militant or the Saints before death but Saints triumphant or Saints after death as hath appeared before it follows that Christ is personally present with them so living and reigning Object 8 This opinion dispeoples Heaven of all the antient glorious inhabitants thereof and that for no less then a thousand years togegether Ans 1 Are not the Angels the inhabitants of Heaven in the time of the thousand years and yet they shall be on the Earth somtime too John 1.52 Verily I say unto you hereafter you shall see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and DESCENDING upon the Son of man which words have a special reference unto the time of the thousand years when Christ shall be on the Earth 2. How many souls were in Heaven before Abel came thither So many shall there be when the thousand years begin and while they are 〈…〉 many shall be left in Heaven when 〈…〉 â—â—â—ement shall begin and be so 〈…〉 when the thousand years shall 〈…〉 and no more for they are one and 〈…〉 Object 9 This opinion implys a threefold coming of Christ the first when he came to take flesh the second when he comes to take receive and enter upon his kingdom the third when he shall come to judge to conclude and end the world Answ This opinion owns but two comings of Christ and as the Scripture so this opinion knows no more The first at his Incarnation The second at this Great day of Judgment the third I know nor for the thousand years are durante currente die judicii the day of Judgement continuing and running on His first coming 〈◊〉 but one and takes into it all neither the meaning of those texts nor can the world bring any such thing to pass 3. Both those forecited texts are to be understood with intermination Now God will have the thousand years to be a time of perfect and compleat intermination to the New Jerusalem or camp of the Saints For the Tabernacle of God shall be with them and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be among them no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain Rev. 2â—â—◠〈…〉 also be a time of far more perâ—â—◠〈…〉 intermination to the other 〈…〉 in a state of mortality and are 〈…〉 21.24 the. Nations that are saved and walk in the light of it then ever the sun saw or the people of God enjoyed before Now that those texts are to be as I said understood with intermination is manifest by that rest which sometime the Church had As Acts 9.31 Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Saâ—aâ—ia c. So also in Solomons time 1 Kings 4 25. whose peaceful time was a type of the peace rest and quiet we are speaking of we see what an abundance of quiet they injoyed for the text saith Judah anâ— Israel dwelt safely every man under his vine and under his figtree from Dan even to Beersheba all the days of Solomon It such were the peace of Solomon who was but a type what is like to be the peace of the Church under the antitype who is a King as of Righteousness so of peace as it is said of Melchizedeck another type 4. Tribulation is not essential to the Earth but accidental only and if Christ be pleased to make that a place of happiness to the saints which is now a place of misery let no mans eye be evil because Christs is good 5. What is meant by the Earth in this question Not the Earth unreformed and unrenewed but reformed and renewed as it shall be at the day of Judgement The former is a place of misery procured by the 〈◊〉 Adam the second is a place of happiness for that time procured by the second Adam Jesus Christ Object 12 The reign of this Saints everlasting in Heaven therefore it is not temporary upon the Earth as this opinion implys Math. 5.10 2 Tim. 4.18 Answ The reign of the Saints is in both places though not at one and the same time but at distinct and diverse times succeeding one another 1 If we speak of the time before the day of Judgment the souls of the